This edited volume comprises 17 chapters on various aspects of Chinese foreign policy. Bringing together Chinese academics based in China and the US (with one non-Chinese academic – Lowell Dittmer), it aims to bring a “Chinese perspective” into the debate of Chinese foreign policy. Rather than a comprehensive account of Chinese foreign policy, it focuses on the forces of change and continuity.
The book is divided into four parts – China's relations with the United States, China's relations with other major powers (Russia, EU and Japan), China's regional relations (North Korean, South Asia, Taiwan and Hong Kong and Macau) and Chinese diplomacy and Chinese characteristics. Through empirical case studies based on these various angles, the authors in this volume aim at “understanding and explaining Chinese foreign policy” (p. 3). Their collective approach is to unravel the intricate interactions between factors at the domestic and foreign levels in Chinese foreign policy.
The authors engage with many important debates in Chinese diplomatic history from early PRC to present, from chapters covering China's bilateral relations (some on general bilateral relations, and some on thematic issues such as 9/11, the North-Korean nuclear issue, cross-Strait relations) to the latter chapters dealing with general trends and characteristics in Chinese foreign policy. This volume's aims are very ambitious, and particularly impressive on the empirical and historical detail of the material presented. As the authors are proficient in both Chinese and English, many of the chapters utilize recently disclosed materials that shed light to traditionally popular topics in Chinese foreign policy such as the “Lost chance thesis,” the “Sino-Soviet split” and the “Tibet issue in Sino-Indian relations.” The authors' grasp of historical and empirical detail and the historical linkages of the topics described in the various chapters are impressive.
The volume achieves an amazing breadth of coverage by having 17 chapters within 377 pages, but some of the chapters leave the reader wanting more elaboration. However, this does not deter from the contribution of this volume to the study of China in general, diplomatic history and Chinese foreign policy.
Chinese foreign policy is not only important in China studies but also in the area of international relations. With the exception of a few chapters which link empirical case studies to the relevant literature in international relations, many of the chapters present interesting studies, without placing them in the context of wider debates in Chinese foreign policy or international relations.
Yufan Hao notes in the introduction that one of the weaknesses in the study of Chinese foreign policy is in the use of Western theoretical methodologies and having less emphasis on what was actually happening in the “black box” of Chinese foreign policy. This point is often made in many previous works on Chinese foreign policy. The individual chapters in the volume expose forces and factors shaping Chinese foreign policy in a given area. However, it would be interesting to see even a brief discussion of how these case studies fit in with the wider context of debates in international relations and foreign policy analysis.
While it is clear that the aims of the volume are to present a Chinese explanation for the forces in Chinese foreign policy, there are some chapters that refer to important concepts and theories in international relations (China threat thesis, soft power, nationalism, realism vs. constructivism). The volume could also be an important contribution to international relations/foreign policy analysis if there were more engagement with some of these debates in the wider secondary literature.
Lowell Dittmer does an excellent job in bringing together the various themes covered in the 17 chapters. Whilst Hao sets up the general framework for the volume in the introduction, Dittmer brings the themes of the volume together in the conclusion. Although the volume was not meant to be a comprehensive examination of Chinese foreign policy, the chapters could be made more coherent by emphasizing linkages between them as in the themes presented by Hao and Dittmer. It is a pity that such an interesting collection of empirical case studies in Chinese foreign policy ends only with empirical conclusions.
The volume is a great resource for students and researchers working on Chinese diplomatic history, as it gives a useful survey of the various topics in Chinese foreign relations. Challenges to Chinese Foreign Policy is certainly an interesting read for the China studies and diplomatic history audience; greater engagement with the debates in international relations would make the volume reach wider into the international relations academic community.
